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Residents in Small Rural Kansas Towns Struggle to Maintain Population

Business is slow at the local café in Kinsley in west-central Kansas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,457 and residents say it has dwindled since that census count. (Photo Credit: Celia Llopis-Jepsen, Kansas News Service)
Business is slow at the local café in Kinsley in west-central Kansas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,457 and residents say it has dwindled since that census count. (Photo Credit: Celia Llopis-Jepsen, Kansas News Service)

Many small towns in Kansas – and across the Plains – are in danger of withering away. State policymakers are talking about ways to help keep them alive. But as Jim McLean of the Kansas News Service reports, they’ll have to find a way to reverse generations of decline.


You can hear an expanded version of this story - and learn more about the research on rural communities - by downloading “My Fellow Kansans” on iTunes or whereever you get your podcasts. The Kansas News Service reports on the health and well-being of Kansans, their communities and civic life.

Find more on this story here.